1

What did Yata-no-Kagami show him?

Thoughts raced through Sadohara's mind while her eyes blankly stared at her former acquaintance. Barely able to focus and blurred by liquid, they saw a man full of bitterness.

An embodiment of the wronged person's outpour of hatred.

It all happened in an instant. Wounds and blood manifested on Guren Izaya as expected from Yata-no-Kagami's fearsome effect. The man had looked desperate, and he wandered around aimlessly, swinging his rapier onto nothing while the Armament's ability broke him down mentally and emotionally.

That would be until that one decisive attack. Prior to that, Izaya exuded an aura that was so overpowering that she failed to react in time.

The mere shock of having Yata-no-Kagami's illusions broken shook her. No ordinary human being should be able to do it that abruptly and violently.

Before she knew it, the rapier had been driven through her chest.

Her numb hands and feet failed to respond to her call. All she could do was fight to keep herself conscious, something that grew in difficulty with each of her lungs' heaves.

"Don't worry. This will not kill someone like you, Miyuko," he finally spoke. "After all, you and I are both blessed by the Absolute Order."

He pulled the rapier out, and with her only support gone, Sadohara's body fell down into a heap. As the side of her face met the cold, unforgiving ground, a remorseful frown appeared on the victor's face.

"Illusions? Weapon tracing? Perhaps, even reality warping," he said while hovering his hand over his chest. "I have no clue what the Absolute Order truly gifted you, but the battle went according to my expectations. It seemed that I just knew your every move, your every tendency, and even the lines that you said. Have my instincts become that strong?"

With a sigh, he put his hand down, and the rapier disappeared into magical particles.

You fool. Of course the battle and whatever "I" said went along with your expectations.

Sadohara kept quiet, taking care not to reveal too much about her Armament's power.

"You never changed, Miyuko, much to my disappointment. I am disappointed that someone with talent like you decided to settle for mediocrity. That's not the way of a researcher like you."

"G-guren..." she muttered before coughing up even more blood.

Even with her entire body laid out on the ground, she struggled. Her hands and feet weakly fought against the floor, trembling with what little sensations they had left. Having failed that, Sadohara instead tried to reach out to her opponent, her eyes never leaving his.

Her joints creaked as she barely moved her right hand forward before it crashed down once more.

"Rest easy, Miyuko. Relish in the fact that you pushed me this far. I won't be able to go after the Magna Arbiter at this rate. At least not for now."

He opened up his long coat, revealing the extent of the damage his chest sustained. Sadohara's stomach shivered as she saw the huge scar, stretching across the chest.

The blood had mostly dried up, however, and the large gash had closed off. Just as Yata-no-Kagami had manifested that grievous wound, so had he willed its recovery while under the spell.

"I should get in touch with the two. There's been a change of plans," he said with a hint of sorrow in his voice. "Because of what you did, those kids of yours would have to face the monster. In your obsession in keeping the power of the Magna Arbiter away from me, you just sent them to their death."

With her eyelids heavy and the rest of her body unresponsive, Sadohara let her head drop down the unforgiving cold of the floor.

"Is that your preferred outcome?" asked Izaya. "Being an Awakener, you would soon exit the Temple of Recollections not forgetting anything. Would that realization show you the light? For now, I bid you farewell, until our next meeting."

Damn you...

Sadohara's last thoughts were of disappointment, both at herself and her opponent, before her body shut down, her eyes trapping her in a world of darkness.

2

Akane Fujiwara looked at a flight of stairs with suspicion. It led upwards, adding to the tally of stairs that she and Reijy had scaled.

"Strange, this place wasn't here a while ago. Could it have something to do with the earthquake?" she asked while pacing around.

She herself was not sure how they managed to backtrack to this area. Walking through several pathways flanked by pillars and statues that all looked alike, the two of them eventually made it back here. She would not have known that it was one of the places they passed by en route to the makeshift cathedral if not for the statues of interlocked serpents that were never seen anywhere else.

It was as if a sixth sense had led them here.

The two gigantic doors that kept the path closed had swung open, leading them to this enclosed space.

Undecipherable symbols littered the ground and the walls, and they seemed to grow in number near the stairs.

Before she can take the first step up the stairs, the ground trembled once again. Following it was a groaning sound that came from the ceiling and the far beyond.

"Be careful, Akane."

Those were the first words that came from Reijy Ishida. Ever since the massive quake that rocked the cathedral, he had been quiet. It could be fear, or it could be him still reeling from the burst of emotions thanks to their heart-to-heart.

She never knew that he had such a heavy burden in his heart the whole time.

Akane Fujiwara had that feeling of disappointment. No matter how much Reijy had confided in her beforehand, she nonetheless found it a downer that he still hid things, especially one as big as that, from her.

Why can't people just be more honest with their feelings?

Her words to Kazuki echoed back in her mind.

As far as she was concerned, she had always stuck by Reijy's side ever since their reunion. She had been frank with her issues with him and his attitude, and she had made it clear that she longed to support him.

Looking at his emotionless expression and this place, a thought struck her mind.

Didn't the whole thing come as a result of their confrontation after the sports fest? Was she at fault for being frank with her feelings?

Before she can allow herself to be consumed in doubt, she turned her attention back to the stairs. Swallowing hard and preparing herself for succeeding earthquakes, she took the first step up.

Nothing happened.

"See? It's safe, Reijy."

As she beckoned to her friend to follow her, she sensed the hesitation in his face. Normally, he wouldn't be like that, but the foul sensations, the creepy growls, and the random tremors all took their toll. If Hell had a physical form that did not involve flames, this was it.

She did not blame him, regardless of circumstances. After all, she herself would have succumbed to that kind of despair, but one thought had kept her going for the most part.

There had to be a light at the end of this tunnel. They cannot be stuck here for eternity. She refused to believe it.

"I have a feeling that the answer to it all lies ahead. Doesn't that make you excited, Reijy?" she said with an air of optimism.

In response, he shrugged nonchalantly before following her up.

"I do."

"Maybe this is like one of those mazes where the exit lies at the top, then. Once we get to the very top, we might see a magical door back to our school."

Reijy scoffed.

"That's way too optimistic, Akane. The way I see it, there could be some monster ready to turn us into those stone people. Don't you remember how many of them were there?"

Her optimism hit a snag, if for a bit. Her feet stopped taking another step as repressed memories of those horrifying sights reappeared in her mind. Stone people, none of them faces that she knew. However, she saw some of those people among the crowd.

Her heart cried for those people who came to the school only to be caught up in this nightmare.

In the first place, what could have turned them into those? Whatever it was, she was absolutely thankful to not have encountered anything of the sort.

They were lucky that nothing ever appeared or jumped out from the shadows the whole time.

The place was scary, but it was no worse than a very realistic haunted house, right? For them, at least.

"But we never met those, right? Whatever thing it was. W-we'll be fine...!" she chuckled nervously.

3

"Are we really fine out here?"

Fujiwara said those words without thought the moment she made it past the harrowing stairs. Her steps slowed down as she set her sights on the object in front of her: an enormous epitaph on a raised platform, lit up by the same magical runes that were everywhere in the temple.

Seeing the end of the dark ceilings should have given her much reprieve, but this place that greeted her and Reijy did not comfort her one bit.

"Where the hell are we?"

Reijy's jaw dropped open when he finally got up the surface. His eyes never left the vast sea of red that still blanketed them.

"It's exactly like in that dream... A sky of red with no end in sight," Fujiwara said, her eyes gaping open in wonder.

"Where is it?"

"Reijy?"

"Where the hell is that damn exit!? We're at the top now, aren't we? You said we'll find one here, right?"

Fujiwara frowned upon looking at her childhood friend.

While she wanted to comfort him, the pillars and cauldrons that were scattered all over the place stole her eyes' attention. The blue flames on top of the levitating cauldrons seemed to wax and wane in intensity at irregular intervals. Her eyes moved from the flames to the lights on the ground.

"The magical things are here, too," she followed, pointing at the numerous symbols littered on the floor.

She then ran towards the edge of the field, peering past the barricades of human height only to stare at the lower levels of the temple. Past it, her eyes saw a seemingly-endless abyss.

There were even no structures such as mountains and the like when she raised her head. It looked as if they were transported into some kind of empty location, inside a gigantic temple that floated aimlessly in space, not even a horizon in sight.

"Wow," she said in a mixture of wonder and anxiety.

"Now's not the time to feel amazed. Let's hurry up and find the exit, Akane."

Before Reijy could take more steps, the sound of creaking caught their attention, and with it came the tremors.

Both of them turned their attention to the raised platform past the torches where a cloud of darkness had begun gathering. A twister of dark energy and lightning created some illumination amidst the red and blue hues.

Caught by curiosity, both she and Reijy approached it.

Running the length of several meters past dozens of pillars, they reached the base of the platform to see what came out of the twister of energy.

From the clouds of smoke first appeared the head, or what looked like it.

Swirling darkness formed a shape of a mouthless face. Fujiwara found herself stepping back little by little until she bumped into Reijy's open arms.

She struggled to comprehend the thing that's forming in front of her, with its face nearly void of detail save for where eyes should be and a single horn that sprang out of the forehead.

Then, limbs concurrently sprang out of the muscular body in a swift motion that startled Fujiwara.

She recoiled at the sight of the nondescript form that formed. Despite clinging to Reijy with one hand, she stood her ground, not letting her eyes get away from the eyes of the strange human, coated in nothing but brown and black.

It was a herculean task. Even without knowing what that thing was, she knew very well that it was something that the two of them had no business dealing with.

"T-t-that..."

Before she could stutter further, she felt a firm hand grab her arm. Stepping forward between her and the monster was her childhood friend.

"Reijy, you can't!"

A firm yet careful force that she was powerless to resist brushed her aside.

"You're trying so hard to be strong, Akane. It's okay now. I can tell that it is I that the thing is interested in."

"Huh?" she blinked repeatedly.

"Look at those eyes. Ever since it appeared, it never looked anywhere else but to my direction. It felt like it was trying to stare a hole through me. You get to safety, Akane."

"Reijy, don't you do anything dangerous!"

"Who dares enter my domain?" began the monster in a deep, hollow voice.

"I-it can talk?"

Having heard her, the monster turned its attention to Fujiwara. "Invader... Must eradicate."

"Stop it with the cryptic crap! You understand us, right? We're trying to find our way out of this shithole!"

"Render of Bounds. In the form of a feeble human."

It was an answer that left Fujiwara even more confused, and she knew that Reijy felt the same way, if his eyes were any indication. Just what was the slang that the monster talked about?

"What the hell are you talking about?!" shouted Reijy.

Raising its hands, the monster summoned a scythe which appeared on its hand.

"Render of Bounds. Must eradicate."

Fujiwara's decision was made in a snap. She had no idea what happened next besides how she hurled her body through the air, tackling Reijy as the world around them shook tremendously.

"Must eradicate intruders..."

"I told you I'm not who you're looking for!"

Fujiwara barely heard her friend's frustrated rant amidst her focus on the form of the quickly-approaching scythe.

4

"Give us a break!"

Shaking and nearly about to collapse, Shiki motioned to lean against the wall, but that act only agitated the rest of his companions.

"H-hey, don't do that!"

Both Misawa and Amamiya quickly pulled him away from the wall, frantically pointing at the glyphs on the wall and the markings on the ground.

"Oh shi-!" He jumped at the thought of accidentally giving everyone an untimely end.

"I guess this place should be fine," said Kazuki.

"There's gotta be an end to this, right? Where are we going?" asked Misawa.

"E-e-erm... call it his gut feel, ahaha," chuckled Kimura while she walked over to Amamiya and the others in order to assist them.

Thanks, Kimura.

Kazuki silently thought before closing his eyes. Ever since their escape from the two members of Euphoria, many things had happened.

The tremors had grown in intensity as they traveled to the place where multiple readings seemed to converge. However, after one final, powerful quake, the shaking completely stopped.

Furthermore, he felt a new reading, one that continued to grow in intensity. He looked at the flight of stairs in the distance.

There was nothing else but the flight of stairs beyond two giant doors, but he felt as if something had his heart in a vice grip. There was no way to put himself at ease.

There are two people up there.

He looked over to the group of people that were already spent from the entire trek. They did not have any combat ability, and fighting whatever's up there was nothing less than impossible if they were to come along.

There's only me and Kimura, and we don't know whether those two will show up again.

"There you go with your frowny look again!"

Following a slap on his back, Kazuki snapped out of his thoughts to appease the pouting Kimura.

"S-sorry. Got too carried away again."

Kimura sighed. "I just don't know what to do with you, really. With the look that you gave, you're worried about them, I assume."

Kazuki nodded.

"Hah! I could read you like a book now!" she triumphantly smiled. "I knew our chemistry is the best! You know, I still feel the chills from when our weapons resonated."

She squealed with a dreamy gesture, undoubtedly a much needed mood-lifter after all they went through.

With raised eyebrows, Kazuki looked at the girl from head to toe, something that she did not take too kindly to.

"Aw, cut it out already! As long as those bad guys don't come back, I'll easily take care of everyone. Can't you trust me a bit more? Remember how your weapon got that cool new form. If I can trust you, don't I deserve the same from you?"

"Looks like something did come out of that whole fake boyfriend thing of yours."

"F-f-fake boyfriend?" stammered Kimura at the approaching Bloomenfled's remark. She wrapped her hand around Kazuki's arms as a result, much to his surprise. "None of that was fake, by the way. Darling here caught my heart since day one, and my love only grew after the concert at the Chronodome."

"Erm... Kimura...?"

Kazuki found himself at a loss for words at the suddenly awkward turn of events.

"So, what are you planning to do now?" asked Bloomenfled before releasing a disinterested sigh. "I overheard part of your conversation. Even Kimura would need someone to look out for her, don't you agree? She's quite a handful."

"Hey!"

Ignoring her, Bloomenfled continued. "I'll back her up, so don't you worry. Those hands have stopped appearing even when we're no longer in the safe spaces I told you, if you noticed. After that uncharacteristically powerful quake, they have stopped appearing altogether. Safe space or not."

"But what about those other people?" pointed Kazuki at the rest of the group.

"You won't be gone for long, right? If that's the case, we should be fine. After all, as clumsy as those people looked, you got to agree that they make a very coherent team of fools," she finished while pointing her thumb at Shiki and the other two girls. "We saved you. Remember that always."

"Yeah, thanks for that."

Kazuki looked at both her and Kimura, and finally making up his mind, began sprinting towards the stairs.

"Okay, see you all in a bit!"

With the reading of forces above him growing in magnitude, he quickened his pace.